The French Space Force, the MSIF, is one of the most experienced warfighting
space forces in the Terran sphere of influence. Although almost since the
first space war the largest, for much of its history it had to learn lessons
from other nations fighting wars and from actions against illegal shipping,
and the occasional skirmish far away from civilisation.

In 2282 however, France was propelled into the greatest war since the
3rd World War which almost extinguished human civilisation around the turn
of the third millennium. When the Russian Federation tried to reacquire
her former territories in Central Asia, China intervened, throwing back
the Russian armies and causing the French to intervene. The Chinese Space
Navy had a very different set of building priorities, and while the French
fielded a great battlefleet, the Chinese did not confront it, instead raiding
French shipping and attack isolated French warships. What the French required
was a number of vessels capable of operating independently for extended
periods away from base, carrying enough firepower to make the results of
contacts against Chinese vessels certain.

These ships were labeled "Chasseurs", "Hunters" in English, the first
of which, the Marechel class was commenced in late 2282, and sent
to the fleet in 2284, the extreme need for these ships lead to a very fast
build rate, 2 per year for the duration of the war but they also suffered
a high rate of attrition. Since then, the Chasseur fleet has become an
elite
within the MSIF.

Unit

Ships

Assignment

DC-1 (1eme Division de Chasseur)

Ney and Foch

Troisième Flotte (French Arm Command)

DC-2

Bouvier and Marsin

Quatrième Flotte (Frontier Command)

DC-3

Patrie and République

Deuxième Flotte (Tirane Command)

DC-4

Démocratie and Justice

Sixième Flotte (Reaction Fleet)

DC-5

Verite and Révolutionnaire

Première Flotte (Home Fleet)

DC-6

France and Marianne

Force Stratégique de Chasseurs

DC-7

Patriote and Scipion

Cinquième Flotte (Chinese-American Arm Command)

DC-8

Bucentaure and Vengeur

Force Stratégique de Chasseurs

DC-9

Commerce and Paris

Escadre Spécial

DC-10

Dunkerque and Lorraine

Force Stratégique de Chasseurs

As of 2301, each French Fleet has a Chasseur Division assigned to act
as scouts. IFS Commerce and IFS Paris are part of Escadre
Spécial, the Special Squadron which forms the Opposition Force for
the French Fleets at their Jupiter Ranges. Finally 3 Divisions form the
Force Stratégique de Chasseurs, a strategic grouping controlled
by High Command and dispatched as Frances "fire brigade".

Dunkerque and Lorraine depart Earth on their first active patrol.(Image courtesy of MSIF Media Operations.)

Marechel class Chasseur Colonieux

The Marechel was the first generation Chasseur, and of the 12
built only 4 are still in commission, 7 being lost in action and one disappearing
while on a Frontier patrol. The Marechel is an older design, and
many of her components are now available on the commercial market, meaning
she can draw from civilian supplies for her maintenance, making her ideal
for deployment to the colonies.

The Ney was one of the first batch of Chasseurs, and as such
has served throughout the Central Asian and Franco-German wars. The Foch
was one of the last, completed after the Central Asian War, but she gave
good service during the Franco-German War. Both were stationed with the
3rd Fleet during the Kafer war as DC-1 and were Rochemont eyes and ears
during the early Invasion. It was DC-1 that held off the Kafers at Sturmwelt
allowing the 3rd Fleet to escape, however both were seriously damaged and
removed from the fleet for repairs, replaced by DC-7.

Bouvier and Marsin were stationed at Queen Alices Star
as DC-2, detached from the French command at Aurore, they remained at Beowulf,
taking part in the evacuation of the Kimanjano garrison and fighting at
Beowulf.

The Patrie is essentially a stretched Marechel but with
updated drive systems, which are much more maintenance intensive. 4 ships
of this type were stationed with the Force Stratégique de Chasseurs,
DC-6 and DC-8, and upon the commencement of the Invasion were launched
down the French arm with the aim of disputing the Kafer supply lines, the
task for which these vessels were intended.

DC-3 and DC-4 were at Beowulf, while DC-7 was dispatched to the 3rd
Fleet, replacing the battle damaged DC-1.

IFS Dunkerque, with missile doors closed, taken from the bridge
of the DSKM Holstein during the crisis of 2299. Note that
despite being well within weapons range, and being on an obvious attack
course, she is not battle ready. This type of affair characterised the
bloodless duels of the crisis.(Image courtesy of DSKM.)

Paris class Chasseur de Flotte

The Paris class were started in 2289, and finally the first hull
was laid in 2294, the only new class authorised by the new Imperium. Designed
to encompass the latest technology into an extremely efficient hunter killer
package.

The Paris emerged from dock in 2297, and was placed into service
on Bastille Day, 2298. The ship was not revolutionary, but rather evolutionary,
representing the sum of human starship building knowledge.

Her two sisters, Lorraine and Dunkerque emerged in 2298
after an intense competition between the two builders to build theirs first.
The Dunkerque was to be the last of the class, which while exceptional
proved too costly even for the rich French Empire. The replacements for
the older Marechal class, the Pluton class would be less
capable, closer to the Patrie class in terms of sheer power, although
learning from the Paris, the cuts would be in areas such as numbers
of weapons, and some speed, rather than in stealth.

The Lorraine and Dunkerque together are assigned to the
10e Division de Chasse, part of the Force Stratégique de Chasseurs,
a group of 6 chasseurs not assigned to specific French Fleets, and tasked
with independent action against the enemy in time of war.

Their first duty was during the Beta Leonis crisis of 2298-2299. Marais
is a barely terracompatible world in the Beta Leonis star system, a mineral
rich world on the Pentapod Frontier. Originally surveyed by a joint Franco-Bavarian
expedition in 2255, it showed some extremely high mineral concentrations,
but the survey was called off due to the possibilities of offending a new
starfaring race (The Pentapods, as it happens, do not make territorial
claims beyond their homeworld). In 2298 Germany launched an independent
mission to the world, renaming it Neues Rheinland. France tasked DC-10
to clear the "squatters" from the system. On arrival, DC-10 was faced with
a small naval squadron consisting of the German Ships Holstein and
Westfalen.
A German transport ship had landed a party of mineral prospectors on the
surface.

The incident was essentially a waiting game, with the French cruisers
aggressively making incursions into the planets space from hiding places
in the outer system, trying to provoke the Germans into firing. The German
Commander, Kaptain von Ruffenbeck, knew he was outgunned, and waited as
long as possible, hoping for reinforcements that never came. Eventually,
with his life support becoming strained, he ordered the abandonment of
the system to the French.

On their return to Terran Space, Vice Admiral Rochemont grabbed the
Division, and immediately tasked them. The pirate known as Le Prince
Pourpre raided the supply ship Soleil Rouge en route to Nous
Voila in the Beta Canum system. Suspecting that the pirates must have a
base in the area, DC-10 was dispatched to hunt down the Prince. It was
the Dunkerque that found the base, in the DM+50 1832 system, however,
the Prince ship was absent, so she powered down and waited. 7 weeks later,
the Princes ship, a converted Éléphant class transport
appeared, towing the supply ship for stripping. While the ship was a treasure
trove of electronics and materials, it was the tantalum the pirates wanted.

The Dunkerque, rather than fighting an open space engagement,
with the costs and risks associated with it, allowed the pirate to dock
and start stripping the Rouge Étoile. With the pirates occupied,
the Dunkerque's marines launched from her with several crewmembers
in E-suits, and boarded the pirate ship, seizing control of her weapons
systems and destroying them. The Dunkerque powered up, cauterised
the bases weapons with laser fire and politely asked the pirates if they
"would please fail to surrender so I don't have to bother feeding you",
however, surrender they promptly did.

6 weeks later the Dunkerque and Lorraine entered Premieres
flight control zone in company of 2 starships, each manned by prize crews
of the MSIF, and recieved their prize money.

They returned to Earth for a refit and crew rotation in June 2300, the
crews having been in deep space for 16 months with only 1 month downtime,
way beyond the safe limit. All her crew were reassigned Earthside for 18
months to heal, while a new crew took over their ships.

The Paris has spent the last 2 years operating in the Escadre
de Chasse Spécial, the French Navies Opposition Force (OpFor) for
exercises. She is assigned currently to Sternjagdgruppe X, a simulated
German Battlegroup, where she is acting as DSKMS Kaiser on exercise. Her
crew are known to be extremely knowledgeable when it comes to German Tactics,
her CO, Captaine Patrice Quebecois, having been CO of FS Aconit
at the 3rd Battle of Alpha Centauri.

The Paris is an 80 meter long starship divided into 3 main sections,
the bow section, the spin arms, and the stern.

Starting from the very front and working back, the first thing encountered
is the navigational radar antenna and the first passive receiver. The passive
array is a synthetic aperture array, with 38 1 meter diameter receivers
on the hull. Behind his the hull proper starts. The first section of the
bow is the missile launchers, a hard vacuum area where the 5 missile launch
tubes are situated. Behind them are 3 more missiles in each launcher assembly,
awaiting their turn to be launch ready. To maintain the missiles, a lot
of automation is used, and if one goes down, the hull hatches must be opened
and the device manhandled into the docking bay for repair. The weapon is
held in a disposable cradle. When a missile is launched, the cradle is
launched with the weapon on by a burst of compressed gas, but it stays
tethered to the ship, and so warping with the ship. Upon detaching from
the cradle, the weapons own drive immediate activates and propels the weapon
under the command of the gunner driving her. The tether is then popped,
the cradle is free, and another missile cradle is moved up.

Behind the launchers is the Centre Tactique, the fighting bridge from
where the combat systems are controlled. It houses 18 men, and is adjacent
to the accommodations access. The CT consists of 18 computer workstations
which control the lasers, submunitions, missiles and lander operations.

Behind this is a zero G common room for the CT officers. When on alert,
all tactical crew are required to be within 2 minutes of the CT, so this
is their for them. On extended alerts the tactical officers often sleep
in here. Next to this is the Voir launcher.

Directly behind the common room is the spin decoupler, this allows access
to the spin section whilst spun up. The zero G decoupler is a lot like
some old fairground rides. The floor is rotating at one cycle every 20
seconds, and 2 access hatches allow the crew to crawl up into the boom
arms.

In the boom arms themselves contain the sections of the ship with gravity,
varying from 0.15 to 0.2g, depending on where you are. Each contains 44
crew quarters of between 10 and 20 cubic meters each, and the communal
facilities such as the washing facilities, the 2 galleys, and the entertainment
facilities. Also, the ships main medical centre is located on boom arm
1, staffed by the ships surgeon and 2 nurses. The secondary medical centre
is located on the 1st main deck of the aft section. In battle, the wounded
are placed in one of 12 automeds to stabilise them until after the battle.

Back in the main section, the spin machinery is located behind the spin
decoupler, consisting of the large driving motor and the flywheel momentum
storage system. The gyroscopic counterbalance system is located at the
ships aft, next to the stardrive system.

We are now into the main body of the ship, and a deck system operates
in this area. There are 5 nominal "decks", aligned across the ship, with
the floor pointed to aft. This is so when the reaction thrusters are fired
the gravity field aligns to the "floor". Even at full thrust, the reaction
thruster only generates 0.3g's and is primarily for orbital operations,
as the vessel is not atmosphere capable.

Starting at deck 1, we find ourselves on the Command Bridge, the Centre
De Commande. This consists of 9 computerised workstations, and 3 command
stations. They are laid out so that so the 2 most important stations, navigation
and helm control are in front of the captains station. To the right of
the captains station is the XOs station, and to the left is the Marine
Forces commanders station, and arrayed in a semi circle behind him are
the 7 operations stations (communications 1, communications 2, engine systems
monitor, power systems monitor, analysis/ science officer and computer
systems officer).

Deck 2 is the flight control deck. Here is a 140 cubic meter hangar,
capable of allowing several varieties of French military small craft to
land. Often carried is a 50 ton Rochard-Ligget Zenith spaceplane. On this
deck is also situated the machine and electronics shops that can repair
parts, or fabricate new parts.

Deck 3 is the cargo deck, and also includes the fuel storage areas.
This area also has access to the folding solar array.

Deck 4 is the largest deck, and consists of the primary engineering
space. The engineering consists of a Rochard-Ligget type 6 90MW fusion
reactor. The reactor is sealed and contains sufficient fuel for 15-20 years
of operation, depending on how much plasma is used in the reaction jets.
The core itself is fairly small, a mere 8 meter triple tokamok, surrounded
by heat exchangers and the radiation screen. Due to the extreme heat and
humidity in this area, it is fairly unpleasant, and engineering is avoided
by most people.

Manoeuvring is via small plasma thrusters mounted on the hull. These
feed directly off exchanged fusion plasma like the main reaction thruster.

The final deck is the smallest, the secondary engineering space. This
contains the stutterwarp drive itself, the gyroscopic compensators which
stop the torque of the spin section affecting the ships course, and the
reaction bells for the orbital drives.

Ship Statistics

Original Date of Design: 2294
First Example Laid Down: 2294
First Example Completed: 2297
Fleets of Service: France
Number in Service: 3 (Paris, Dunkerque and Lorraine)

The standard pay for taking a prize ship is half the value of the vessel
plus half the value of any ordnance or cargo, split equally between all
members of the crew of the ship that took the prize, so the 90 man Paris's
crew would expect 1/180th of the basic cost each. For a typical merchant
this is roughly Lv150,000 each, potentially enough enough to retire on.

Appendix 2: Beta Leonis

The quickest route (from Earth) is:

Star Name

Star Dist.

Cum. Dist.

Code

(SOL)

0.00

0.00

0

Nyotekundu (French Outpost)

7.64

7.64

480

Bessieres (French Outpost)

4.01

11.65

75

Neubayern (German Colony)

7.11

18.76

476

Augereau (French and German Outposts)

4.24

23.00

69

Queen Alice's Star (French Colony)

5.79

28.79

486

Kimanjano (French Colony)

7.25

36.04

410

Joi (ex-French Colony)

7.22

43.26

406

DM+27 28217 (French Outpost)

5.03

48.29

131

Ross 627

7.47

55.76

507

Beta Leonis

7.63

63.39

80

-Output from the Warp98 program with the standard 2300 near star list.

As you can see, it is two jumps beyond the frontier, about the same
distance from Earth as Aurore. Explorers moved into this area in the 2250's,
contacting the Pentapods. The Pentapods, although starfarers have not colonised
off-world, but have sent "bullets" exploring, but rather than settling
in foreign systems, they instead have huge starships, the size of moons
which house millions of bullets and a single "God" (the true Pentapods).
The DM+27 28217 outpost is the primary transfer point for trade with the
Pentapods, and so much richer than its size would suggest. The Pentapod
homeworld, around the star DM+43 1953, is 6 jumps beyond DM+27 28217, and
several fingers with several dozen new systems lie in this area.

Appendix 3: Villeneuves Revenge

The missing Marechel, much to Frances shame mutinied, and has
become a Pirate ship, the Villeneuves Revenge. The original mutineers
were fired by the passions of the Elysian revolution, and intended to take
their ship to Elysia and join their comrades. Unfortunately a countermutiny
put the former Crew Chief in command, and she had no intention of forgoing
the opportunity to own a power combat starship. Serving as a mercenary
in the Elysian and Franco-German wars, she spent the interim years hired
out to Corporations for a variety of tasks, ranging from escorting merchants,
to attacks on rival shipping lines and a daring raid on a King Tantalum
fleet, seizing a freighterload of refined tantalum and selling it abroad.
When the Kafer War started, she took a German letter of marquee and was
involved in attacking Kafer shipping. No contact with her has been made
since March 2302, but her destruction is by no means sure.

The ship is a modified Marechel, modified so as to be unrecognisable,
although a thorough inspection will reveal her drive numbers are that of
the FS Marechel Duroit. Her crew is constantly shifting, and she
would make a good candidate for a pirate/ mercenary campaign.